THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all
very much. Well, Hugh, thank you very much. I'm
honored to be introduced by such a good man, and an important leader
for our country.

I want to thank the leadership of the
National Urban League for inviting me. For those of you who
don't live here, I welcome you to the Nation's
Capital. You've come here to hold America to its founding
promises of justice and opportunity. There are many items on
that agenda, from economic empowerment, election reform, to criminal
justice reform. Right before we came in the hall I had the opportunity
to visit with this organization's fine leadership, and my pledge to
them, and my pledge to you is I'll work together with you to do what's
right for America. (Applause.)

Here in Washington we are reaching a
moment of decision on one issue -- an issue that is urgent in every
urban neighborhood, the issue of education. So this morning,
among the nation's most influential urban leaders, I want to speak
about the essential choices facing our Congress and our country when it
comes to the reform of our public schools.

Again, I thank my friend, Hugh Price, for
the invitation. I thank him for his diligence. I
thank him for his leadership. I want to thank Ken Lewis, as
well. I appreciate so very much Leland
Brendsel. I want to thank Ken Blackwell, the Secretary of
State of Ohio; and Joe Rogers, the Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, who
are here.

I appreciate so very much the Secretary of
Education, Rod Paige, serving our nation. You know, when it
came to picking the Secretary of Education, I didn't -- wasn't
interested in picking a theorists or a philosopher, I was interested in
picking a doer. (Applause.) And this man has
successfully run the Houston Independent School District. He
raised the standards, challenged the status quo when there's
failure. That's what he and I are both going to do, now that
we're in Washington, D.C.

I also appreciate so very much Larry
Thompson, the Deputy Attorney General, for joining, as
well. Thank you, Larry. Where are you, Larry?
Somewhere out there. (Applause.)

The men and women of the Urban League know
how important our schools are, how much good they can do in the life of
a child, and how much is lost when they fail. You've seen
both. The mission of the National Urban League is to secure
economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights.

And successful schools have always been
central to that mission. An equal society begins with an
equally excellent schools. But we know our schools today are
not equal. The failure of many urban schools is a great and
continuing scandal. Rarely in American history have we faced
a problem so serious and destructive on which change has come so
slowly. The most basic educational skill is
reading. The most basic obligation of any school is to teach
reading.

Yet, earlier this year, we found that
almost two-thirds of African American children in the 4th grade cannot
read at basic grade level. For white children, that figure
is 27 percent. The gap is wide and troubling, and it's not
getting any better. That gap leads to personal tragedy and
social injustice. In America, literacy is liberation, and we
must set all our children free. (Applause.)

The ability to read is what turns a child
into a student. First we learn to read, and then we read to
learn. When this skill is not taught, a child has not failed
the system -- the system has failed the child. And that
child is often put on a path of frustration and broken confidence.

For too long, many schools have been
content to blame their failure on parents, on poverty, on circumstances
beyond their control. Year after year, children without
schools are passed along in schools without standards. Some
see this social promotion as an act of compassion. It is, in
fact, a form of discrimination, the soft bigotry of low expectations.
That bigotry has young casualties, and that bigotry must
end. (Applause.)

Listen to the experience of one young girl
from New York. She said, "In the 5th grade I missed maybe 90
days of school and they passed me, with no problem. In the
6th grade I missed maybe 100 days and they passed me, with no
problem. I don't even remember taking the exam," she said,
"they just kept passing me along. I ended up dropping out in
the 7th grade. I basically felt that no one cared."

That young woman learned one lesson in
school -- no one cared. At least no one who could
help. Millions of children carry that same lesson throughout
their lives, and we owe them better. We owe all our children
the pride and promise of learning. We must return the spirit
of ambition and achievement to all our public schools.

The Urban League is reaching toward that
goal by highlighting student achievement, by focusing on early
literacy, by encouraging every child to read and rise. And
our government must have those same priorities.

Education is a local responsibility; yet
improving our public schools is a national
goal. (Applause.) And all of us must do our
part.

For nearly 40 years, our federal
government has tried to improve education with money
alone. We invested $158 billion in Title I programs, with
great intentions and no measurable result. We've been
pumping gas into a flooded engine. Just as faith without
works is dead, money without reform is fruitless.

Yet, today, after decades of frustration,
we're on the verge of dramatic reform. Schools must have the
resources they need, and I support more spending. Local
folks must be in charge of local schools, because they're closest to
the children and their challenges. But most of all, we need
true accountability, the centerpiece of reform. Consequences
for school officials must be determined by proven results for
children. Those in authority must show
responsibility. The purpose of education, after all, is not
jobs for adults, it's learning for students. (Applause.)

Accountability is an exercise in
hope. When we raise academic standards, children raise their
academic sights. When children are regularly tested,
teachers know where and how to improve. When scores are
known to parents, parents are empowered to push for
change. When accountability for our schools is real, the
results for our children are real. (Applause.)

I know this because I've seen
it. In Texas, when we first introduced accountability
measures, only 56 percent of African Americans 4th graders could pass
our state reading test. Today, 83 percent of those students
pass the tests. (Applause.) African American 8th
graders in Texas are writing better than their peers in any other
state.

Our Texas state tests require and measure
progress amongst every minority group. And the great news
is, we've gotten progress amongst every group in
Texas. (Applause.) We saw supposedly hopeless
schools make major progress. We saw students who had been
written off find the self-esteem of real accomplishment.

We saw how determined reform can confound
the cynics and the skeptics. Accountability can work in all of
America. And our federal government must take the side of
meaningful reform. Our government must speak for
disadvantaged children who are often overlooked and underestimated.

I'm an activist for high
standards. I'm an activist for accountability. My
administration has set a great goal: We will lift the load
of low expectations so that all children will
rise. (Applause.) The United States Congress now
shares this goal. Our plan passed both the House and the
Senate with big bipartisan majorities. Our national debate
has come a long way. But in the short distance we have left,
there are some vital decisions to be made.

Our landmark education reform is now in
what they call a "conference committee." We're coming down
to the wire. We've got to finish strong and make sure the
accountability measures are right.

So today, I'm urging the Congress to act
quickly and to act wisely on three major issues. First, we
must begin where the need is greatest and focus on the
lowest-performing schools. The bar for adequate school
performance must be rigorous, achievable, targeted to all groups, and
raised gradually.

No one should ask that all our goals be
met overnight. These goals must be met over
time. If, after three years, nothing changes for students in
a failing school, their parents must be given other options -- like a
transfer to a better public school, or private tutoring.

Now, it's well-known I would have
preferred those options to include funds to attend a private
school. Many in Congress, unfortunately,
disagreed. Yet, we all agree that schools which persistently
fail must be radically restructured. (Applause.)

Some of my allies in reform want to
require dramatically improved performance -- immediately,
everywhere. I appreciate aiming high, but setting impossible
expectations means setting no expectations. The undoable
never gets done. If we identify all schools as failures, we
won't be able to focus on the greatest needs. If goals are
unrealistic, teachers will become discouraged, instead of challenged;
harassed, instead of inspired. By confronting the worst
problems, we direct our energies and send a message of reform heard
throughout the entire system.

Second, states must choose their own
tests. But within a state, those tests must be comparable
from place to place and year to year. Right now, a state and
its districts can use different tests -- and that's okay by me. But
there has to be a way to compare the results of those tests to one
another. If state accountability systems count easy tests
from some districts and hard tests from others without a method to
compare them, parents won't really know who's making progress and who's
falling behind. Unless there's a fair and consistent measurement among
schools, there can be no accountability.

Thirdly, we must have independent evidence
that state tests are rigorous and state tests are
real. Fortunately, we already have a proven way to get the
independent evidence we need: the National Assessment of
Educational Progress, or the NAEP. NAEP is not
new. Over 40 states now participate. It's not a
national test, and we certainly don't need one. But we do need a
national report card, and NAEP serves that purpose. We need
an objective check on state accountability systems, so we need the NAEP
for every state.

You know, not long ago, accountability was
controversial. Today, the concept is widely
shared. But to make a difference in the lives of children,
it must be more than a concept. Accountability must be
tough, yet realistic and workable. The Congress has some
work to do before we reach that goal. And the time is
running short.

We're now in August. In 35
days, school starts in New York City; 34 days, schools open in Oakland,
California. In Kansas City, Missouri, children report for
class in 26 days. Principals and teachers need to make their
plans for changes that will come immediately, and for changes that will
come next year.

We're asking a lot of our schools and our
teachers and our students; they have a big job ahead of
them. And so do we, here in Washington. And now
is the time, Congress, to get the job done.

Two years ago, when I spoke to the Urban
League Conference in Houston, my reforms for America's schools were
just a set of proposals. And now, these proposals are within
weeks of becoming reality. I'm thanking the Urban League for
your support, and I ask you to continue to work with Congress to make
sure they become the law of the land. I ask you to join me
in building a system of education worthy of all America's children, so
that every child has a chance in life, and not one single child, in the
greatest land on the face of this Earth, is left
behind. (Applause.)